Comfort food
by New Neon
Summary: A series of drabbles where Sanji runs a cafe and Zoro is an oblivious moron. zosan
1. Chapter 1

Zoro stands stock still in the street with the phone pressed to his ear, he understands what he's being told, mentally he does but... he can't wrap the rest of him around the idea.

"I- yes. Thanks for telling me." He says numbly and hangs up.

He needs to sit down before his legs give up under him, he stumbles right across the street into some kind of café and falls into one of the seats at the bar. His hands are in his hair and trembling, the flowers that he'd got her are gone, he probably dropped them outside. It doesn't matter now, he supposes. Kuina is really gone for good, he'd been hoping for so long that she'd wake up and- he chokes back the sound in his throat but some of it slides out between clenched teeth.

He's staring down at the counter hard enough to bore holes into it when a drink and a large piece of pie are slid under his face. His head snaps up, he'd not even ordered anything.

"It's good, you should eat and drink." The blonde waiter tells him softly. Words die in Zoro's throat so he just nods stiffly. His hands wrap around the white mug before him and he mechanically brings it to his mouth, destroying the heart in cocoa on the top of it. It's something warm and chocolaty, it slides down his throat, coating his tongue in some wonderful flavour. He swallows and the world seems to stop spinning so hard, the waiter smiles at him.

"In my experience, there are two kinds of problems. Ones you can't do anything about no matter what, there's no point worrying about those, it's hopeless. And then there's ones that you can do something about, you just need to work out what it is for that and do it, not worry about it. Either way, worrying is pointless, so don't feel so bad." The blonde says sagely.

"I don't… I don't think that applies here." He says clumsily as the image of Kuina's still chest with no breath of life in it flashes behind his eyes. She's gone, she's really really gone. Some part inside of him hurts so badly that he's not sure it'll ever stop, he appreciates this guy's attempts to help but this will never feel okay.

"Sure it does, that's why it's Zen fucking wisdom I'm dishing out here. Hey, I guarantee that when you finish your drink and that pie and walk out that door, you won't feel as bad as you do now." The guy says confidently, his hands on his slender hips.

"You don't know what I'm going through." Zoro challenges, part of him hating how whiny and self-absorbed that sounds.

"Buddy, you don't know my pie." The blonde grins cockily at him and saunters off in his black suit out into the back of the café.

Zoro shakes his head in disbelief. What the hell is that guy on? Still, Kuina would have liked that kind of "Zen fucking wisdom", it would have made her laugh. He's never stopped thinking about her, about what she would have said if she'd been around, or what she would have thought of someone or something. He's spent so much of his time these last five years with a ghost it's not all that dissimilar to be thinking about her now that she actually is dead.

He sighs and pokes at the pie with his fork, he should eat, even though he doesn't feel like eating. He knows what he gets like when he gets down though, his appetite tanks and he's gone days without eating before simply because he didn't feel like it and forgot. When Kuina was first hospitalised he lost nearly a stone.

The crust of the pie is flaky and buttery, it melts in his mouth belying the bittersweet berry filling inside. He's not one for real sweet stuff so the tartness of the fruit is pleasing, it matches surprisingly well with the hot chocolate drink that he's been given too.

He eats and thinks and through it all he misses Kuina, he'd do anything to take her place, she was the one with real talent- not him. It wasn't fair.

"_Life isn't fair Zoro."_ Her exasperated voice runs through his mind. He tangles a hand in his hair, why couldn't she just be here with him telling him that? Why, why, why?

By the time he finishes his pie and his drink he doesn't feel a whole lot better, but less like he's going to cry or crumple up into a ball. Instead he just feels kind of hollow inside, like someone's scooped his insides out with an ice cream scoop.

A muffled argument out back catches his attention, as well as the blonde waiter's who pauses to listen in the middle of wiping down one of the otherwise entirely empty tables that fill the place. Actually, there's no one else in here but him and the blonde.

"Way to show up to work on time Patty." The waiter mutters to himself, dropping the cloth in the sink as he passes.

"Hey, what do I owe you?" Zoro says, catching the blonde's attention.

The man seems to regard him for a moment before strolling over. The guy has to be about Zoro's age, though they're nothing alike, this guy is slender and fancy looking with his suit and his perfect golden hair swept dramatically over half of his face.

"You don't owe me a thing." He says simply, his hands stuffed casually in his pockets.

"For the pie and the drink." Zoro says, as if that'll clarify things.

"You didn't eat or drink anything." The blonde says with a snort, picking up Zoro's crockery and dropping it into the bin behind the bar with a loud crash.

"What are you- hey, look, just take the money." Zoro frowns, pulling a twenty out of his wallet and trying to hand it to the guy. The waiter just dodges it though.

"Take it!" Zoro snaps, if it's pity this guy is giving him by feeding him for free, he doesn't want it!

"Sir, stop waving money at me, it's insulting. I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" The blonde says loudly, loudly enough for some ugly guy to stick his head out of the back.

"Sanji! Stop yelling!" The guy shouts himself as he comes out from the back room, oblivious to the contradiction in his own words.

"Patty, this crazy guy has just come in off the street shouting crazy shit and waving money in my face. I'm throwing him out!" he declares.

"HEY! I'm just trying to pay for my goddamn meal!" Zoro argues, disliking being called crazy by some clearly whacko waiter. He glances at the countertop though and realises that with no plate or mug it looks like he hasn't eaten anything at all and like the blonde's story is true.

As one the waiter and this new guy haul him out of the little café and out into the street, ignoring his angry shouted protests at being manhandled.

"And stay out, you crazy bastard!" the blonde shouts at him and moves to shut the door, Zoro gets his shoulder in it first though.

"You're the crazy one!" Zoro snarls, trying to shove his money through the door.

"You're pretty angry huh?" The blonde remarks casually as he shoves back on the door, ducking the money again.

"Of course I am!" He yells, contemplating just flinging the money in the café and legging it.

"You're not sad though, are you?" The blonde says quietly, with smugness radiating from him.

Zoro pauses. He's not sad, he'd not been thinking of Kuina that entire time, he's just… ticked off right now. The dumbass blonde had actually distracted him from his pain for a few moments.

Sensing an opportunity the blonde slams the door shut on him and locks it before pulling a smartass grin and sticking his tongue out at Zoro through the window. A smile flickers on the edge of Zoro's mouth before drying up after a second but still… the scrawny blonde had won.

Reluctantly Zoro shoves the money back in his pocket and looks around outside. His outburst attracted a fair few stares from passers-by, but he doesn't care about that. Petals swirl around his feet and he spots the white bouquet he dropped a little further up the road. He doesn't go to get it, Kuina isn't in a state to appreciate it now, but it does give him an idea of where he can crash for tonight. He turns on his heel away from the strange man in the café and heads to Robin's house.


	2. Chapter 2

Sanji checks his watch, it's six AM and the Baratie is open for business. They're open pretty much every hour god sends right now, Sanji does barely anything but work and sleep. The hours are destroying him and if it wasn't for one thing he's not sure that he could make it through.

The guy that he fed for free, the tall green haired gorgeous one, he came back.

At first Sanji thought that all his Christmases had come at once, he'd desperately hoped that gorgeous (as he'd taken to calling him in his head before he knew his name) would come back and he had and all dressed up in a pretty little package too. He had walked into the Baratie in the middle of the day when there were no customers, all covered up in a sleek black suit with a black tie and a crisp white shirt. He looked like porn and Hugo Boss suit adverts smashed together into perfection.

He'd wanted nothing more than to drag the guy over by his tie and unwrap him. Until he had clocked the man's sombre expression and then the colour scheme of the suit, greys and blacks, and realised that he wasn't dressed up for him but for a funeral. It turned out that his childhood friend had been in a coma for years and then she'd died suddenly on the day Sanji had first met him. It had devastated him, the poor guy had come into the Baratie just to sit down and think, only for Sanji to open his big mouth and jerk him around.

He'd realised just how much he'd screwed up and had half expected the guy to punch him out. But… he'd just sat down and let Sanji feed him again. He provided some context to his last visit, which only served to make Sanji feel like more of an ass than he did already, the guy had just literally been told about his friend before he met Sanji for the first time. And he had… well, he'd done what he always did whenever he didn't really know what to say, he'd run his mouth. He'd got into an argument with this guy only for him to suddenly stop midway through and laugh. Zoro (he'd introduced himself by then) had just looked up at him with his dark eyes and said:

"The only time I felt any better that day was when I ran into you and you were such a complete asshole that I forgot about her for a minute. Thanks."

The only thing he'd been able to come up with to that at the time was. "You're welcome, dumbass."

Zoro came by every day now, despite Sanji's sudden lack of tact and social skills around him. But that wasn't the best part of Sanji's day, this is. He leans against the window under the pretence of cleaning them and waits, watching. He's on the second window pane when Zoro rounds the corner up the road and runs towards the Baratie. He's gorgeous, shirtless and drenched in sweat, running the same route he does every morning. Sanji pauses in his window cleaning and subtly admires the view. The man is fit, fast and strong enough to send all of the blood in Sanji's body rushing to his groin. Zoro flicks a glance in his direction and grins at him, Sanji scrambles enough brain cells to grin back in a non-lecherous way before the other man passes him completely.

Sanji leans his head against the incredibly clean window and lets out a calming breath as he resists the temptation to flick the sign on the door to closed and sneak into the bathroom and jerk off to that image. He's not been able to resist every single day, some days he breaks down and just has to shut up shop for a few minutes. One time Zoro stopped at the Baratie mid run for a drink of water and ended up pouring as much of it over his shirtless torso as he did drinking it. That had not been good for Sanji's blood pressure. Usually Sanji is into women, he really is, it's very rare that a man catches his eye. But… well… when a guy who pretty much walks right out of Sanji's spank bank and into real life comes up to him, he can't resist.

He pushes himself away from the window and gets on with the rest of his morning. He could have dealt with this attraction if it had just been physical but it's more than that. Sanji knows that he can be abrasive and rude at times, especially to men. That's why he doesn't have any real friends outside of work, he has people he knows but no friends. But Zoro doesn't mind his acidic tongue and his insults, in fact he seeks them out. Zoro baits Sanji and gives as good as he gets. Zoro had said himself that it was that quality in Sanji that made him come back. So Sanji has found himself torn between wanting to keep the guy up all night talking to him, getting to know him even more and wanting the guy to keep him up all night having sex. He had it bad.

Within twenty minutes Zoro saunters back into the Baratie in a tight white shirt and black jeans, Sanji tries not to drool.

"You look pleased with yourself." He says, because really it sounds a lot better than 'please let me blow you'.

"I am. I took half a minute off of my time." Zoro grins and hops onto his barstool, the same one he'd picked on the first day.

"Shall I call the mayor to arrange the parade in your honour?" Sanji snorts and slides Zoro over a bright green smoothie. Zoro never orders anything, he just trusts Sanji to make him something awesome, another reason that Sanji loves- uh… likes him.

"Go play in traffic asshole." Zoro spits back and drinks. Sanji notes the pleased quirk of Zoro's lips and the set of his shoulders as he drinks and notes it down in his mind. He's starting to get a proper map in his head of what Zoro does and doesn't like, he's not a fan of sweet things, and the tart kiwi, grapefruit and mango smoothie seems to please him.

"Bite me." He says back instead.

"So, are you ever not here?" Zoro asks, leaning back on his chair and chasing a stray drop of smoothie with his tongue and completely derailing Sanji's brain.

"Huh?" he says intelligently and leans against the counter so that Zoro won't see anything he's not really supposed to on him.

"This place…" Zoro says, gesturing to the building, "are you ever not in it?"

"Of course I am, idiot. They don't just switch me off and wheel me into a cupboard when the lights go off. I'm not a robot." He shoots back irritably.

"Well that really put my mind at ease, idiot." Zoro snorts and sips some more of his drink.

"Not much mind to work with, so it wasn't hard." He shoots back.

"I was asking when the last time you had a day off was." Zoro sighs and flips him off. Sanji frowns, he can't actually think when that was, but it doesn't help that part of his brain is freaking out in the hope that this is some preamble to Zoro asking him on a date next time he has a day off. His stomach is getting in knots just thinking about it.

"I had an afternoon off last Thursday." He muses as he fiddles with a new roll of paper for the till.

"No, a whole time of at least 24 hours that you didn't work. See, today is Sunday, so I'm not at work, get it?" The green haired bastard says mockingly.

"Shut up! I think I had a whole day off at the beginning of last month, I managed to slice my thumb when Carne shoved into me, so I let it heal for a day. Why do you care anyway?" He demands irritably. Zoro just stares at him for a few long moments and Sanji swears that he actually sees the other man's eye twitching.

"That's not a day off, that's a sick day. And seriously, the beginning of last month?!" Zoro hisses angrily. Sanji shrugs, what does Zoro want him to do about it?

"What's in this anyway?" The man sighs, running a hand through his hair and seemingly dropping the subject as he runs a finger up and down through to condensation on the half full smoothie glass.

"Banana, kiwi, lime- where are you going?" he asks perplexed. Halfway through his sentence Zoro had leapt up out of his chair and started striding across the restaurant with the sort of fierce determination that Sanji really didn't like seeing on his face. Zoro doesn't answer him but instead shoves the door to the kitchen open.

"Hey, you! You own this place right?" Zoro yells in there before Sanji can rush inside and kick Zoro's trap shut. He gets in there fast enough to run right into Zoro's back though, he peeks around the other man's broad shoulders and sees Zeff looking at the green head suspiciously.

"Yeah, what are you doing back here?" the chef questions with an irate twitch of his moustache.

"I told your incompetent barista here not to give me kiwi, I'm allergic, and he did it anyway! Now I'm gonna have to go to the hospital." Zoro declares in what is blatantly an outrageous lie, however that's not the most egregious statement.

"BARISTA?! I'm a chef you shitty insect! I'll kill you! I'll shove my foot so far up your ass that-" he screeches in unbridled rage.

"SANJI." Zeff snaps angrily, cutting Sanji's rant short.

Sanji snaps his jaw shut and glares at Zoro, his teeth grinding in anger and frustration. What the hell was the other man even doing?! That bastard!

"I swear that he fell asleep earlier too, when is the last time you gave this idiot the day off anyway? He looks so sleep deprived he could be a corpse." The other man lies even further.

"Thanks. You're no prize either." He grouses, even if it's not strictly speaking true.

"Look, Zeff. This bastard ain't allergic to shit, he's lying." He insists, turning to his old man with imploring eyes. He's never made a mistake like that at all, and if he had Zoro would be on his way to the hospital, not out here bitching to Zeff about it.

"Haven't you got a hospital to go to? Get outta my kitchen." The old man growls at Zoro who begrudgingly nods and walks out. Sanji pouts a little despite himself, even if Zoro had been annoying he's always sad when the other man goes. Although he's not exactly sad to see Zoro _leaving_ the guy is pretty pleasant to watch from behind too.

"When _was_ your last day off anyway?" Zeff asks, folding his arms and leaning back against the counter as he looks Sanji up and down in an assessing way.

Sanji glowers, he sees now what Zoro was trying to achieve. He disagrees with the other man though, his heart might be in the right place but he doesn't understand the circumstances. Still, he can't lie to Zeff, not if he wants to avoid being kicked in the teeth anyway.

"The beginning of last month, when I cut myself up, remember?" He answers in grumbled resignation as he runs this thumb over the still visible white line on his hand where the cut healed.

"Get out." Zeff says firmly, shocking Sanji.

"What?! You don't seriously believe that-" he splutters in complete disbelief.

"You've been working too much, Patty and Carne will cover your shifts. If I see you in here before Wednesday I'll rearrange your face. Now get out." Zeff states flatly.

"I'm not working too much you old geezer, and we can't afford- ah!" He yelps as Zeff's peg leg swings through the air that his head was just occupying moments ago.

"Out! No one wants your cooking anyway!" The old guy roars, swinging for him again. This time it's not so much of a warning shot and Sanji only just manages to dodge it and still feels the kick just sail by his skin.

"Okay, okay! I'm going!" He yelps and retreats. He grabs his coat and dashes out into the front again. Zoro is already gone, his glass is empty and there's a ten on the counter. He considers taking it and chasing the marimo down and making him take it back- it's way too much, but Zeff runs him out of the building before he gets the chance. He and Zoro have this thing, it's sort of a game, though a lot of what they do is a game. There's the game of trying to insult each other as much as possible, there's the game that he has where he tries to guess what Zoro does for a job since Zoro won't tell him, and there's this thing where Sanji refuses to let Zoro pay for his food and Zoro sometimes leaves far more money than he should behind and runs off. Sanji figures the money actually works out to be slightly in their favour and he doubts that's by accident on Zoro's part.

As the Baratie's door slams behind him he glances around the street hopelessly, he doesn't know what to do with himself now but he really wishes that Zoro was here. He doesn't expect to see Zoro still close by but there he is, just ten feet down the road.

"Thanks a lot asshole!" He shouts as he nears the other man. Zoro looks up in surprise and Sanji sees that he's on his phone, Sanji quiets down but still glares at the other man.

"Seriously, you- but I need your car today to help me move... Yeah... I guess. It's just... It was my last day off for a while, so now it's going to have to be next week then. Fine, no, it's not your fault man, if Iceburg needs you then I get it. Yeah, bye." Zoro grumbles and hangs up.

"So much for that plan." Zoro mutters to himself as he hangs up.

"What's gone wrong?" Sanji asks curiously, his rage pushed aside by nosiness.

"I was supposed to be moving into my new place, I've been sleeping on sofas lately and I really need to get my own place. Franky was supposed to be helping me and lending his car, I can't drive so he was gonna drive me, but he had to pull out. Now I can't move until next Saturday." Zoro sighs and shoves his phone back into his leather jacket.

"I have a car, and seeing as SOMEONE just got me kicked out of work..." He says, his words trailing off. They had caught him by surprise, the offer tumbling out of his mouth before he had time to think about it. Crap, this is weird isn't it? Zoro is going to think he's a weirdo, Sanji might secretly adore him but he's still a customer.

"Wait, he didn't just fire you or something did he?!" Zoro balks in horror.

"No, he just told me not to come back until Wednesday, which isn't any good either. Though if he had fired me it'd be all your fault, you meddling grass head!" He snaps, kicking the man in the leg.

"Hey, that's great!" Zoro beams at him.

"No it's not, and if you say it is again I'll run you over with my car instead of helping you." He threatens.

"You really don't have to help me you know, I'm sure you've got better things to do on a rare day off than help me move." Zoro says quietly. Sanji considers this, he doesn't know if Zoro is trying to brush him off and be polite about it or what, he doesn't want to stick around to find out either.

"I wouldn't have offered if I didn't feel like it, come along or don't, but I'm going." He shrugs casually and turns to walk off. There's a few seconds where he doesn't hear Zoro's voice or hear his footsteps, Sanji allows himself an internal pang of disappointment, so much for that then.

"Hey, wait! If you're really sure..." Zoro calls out, catching up to him in a few quick strides. Sanji grins and turns the corner to small staff car park around the back of the Baratie with Zoro following him.

They reach Sanji's gorgeous blue car, it's a vintage camero in an amazing powder blue. It was beat up when he got it, which was how he got it for so cheap, he's spent loads of time and money on it to get it to this level. Though lately not so much.

"This is yours?" Zoro asks with raised eyebrows as he lays eyes on the car.

"Yep, my baby. Took her from nothing to this." He beams, stroking his hand along her side as he opens the door.

"You and Franky would get on like a house on fire." Zoro smiles to himself. Sanji's ears perk up in interest, Zoro's usually quite talkative if Sanji can get him going, but he's never spoken about his friends before today.

"Oh?" He asks with interest as he slides inside and buckles his seatbelt up.

"He's an engineer, he loves stuff like this, cars especially." Zoro says opening the door.

"I really hope you're not a serial killer." Zoro adds thoughtfully as he shuts the door from inside the car.

"Darn, you found me out. I'll help you move before I kill you though. So where to?" Sanji says flatly as he turns his car on, her engine purrs gorgeously, sending a shiver down his spine as always.

"Uh… let's go to Robin's first to pick my stuff up from there. It's on Ohara Avenue." Zoro says, leaning back in the seat and stretching alluringly, Sanji keeps his eyes on the road as they pull out of the car park.

"That part of town is pretty deserted, wasn't there a huge fire there like ten years ago? I thought no one lived there." He says. He remembers reading about it in the papers and seeing all of the burnt out buildings whenever he went that way.

"Yeah, don't… don't mention that if you see Robin." The marimo says distantly.

Sanji shrugs and drives off in the right direction, it's not far enough really for the silence between them to become awkward, it's just that he's hyper aware of the fact that the leading star of his latest jerk-off fantasies is in his car with him. He tries to keep his mind off of it, after all he doesn't have a convenient counter to hide his hard on behind now. Still, it takes a lot of concentration on his part to not visualise just pulling over and dragging Zoro into the back of the camero and getting all hot and sweaty with him. He's never been able to bring himself to have sex in the back of his precious car but for Zoro he would definitely make an exception. Goddamnit, he needs to think of something else!

"It's this side of the road, just… a little further I think. Unless we've already passed it…" Zoro says thoughtfully, looking out of the window.

"Those are pretty different." He shoots back, grateful for his smart mouth at times.

"Shut- oh, there. Pull over!" Zoro exclaims, pointing at a building. Sanji obligingly pulls over and Zoro hops out of the camero and shuts the door.

"I've just got a suitcase or two worth of things here, the rest of it is in storage downtown. I figured starting here would be better." Zoro says as he holds the door to the building open for Sanji.

"You seem to be pretty practiced at this, do you move a lot or something?" he remarks. Not that Zoro does seem especially practiced at this, it's just a nice vaguely complimentary thing to say and it makes him seem more insightful than he really is. He realises with a start that he's trying to talk to Zoro the same way that he talks to women, he's trying to make Zoro feel like he knows lots about him already, to build up a relationship quickly. He wants to kick himself because he likes getting to know Zoro, not just pretending like he does.

"If I was practiced I wouldn't be having to drag innocent bystanders into helping would I? I should be practiced though, I move more than I'd like. It's usually pretty last minute though. I've had to abandon a lot of stuff over the last year or two, I try to keep most stuff that I don't want to lose in storage. The rest is just in suitcases like I said." The moss head says casually as he steps into the lift with Sanji in tow.

"Now who sounds like a serial killer?" Sanji shoots back, making the marimo laugh brightly.

"Hm, I don't _think_ Robin will be home, she's usually left for the university by now. But she's on flexitime so some days she's not." Zoro remarks as the exit the lift and Zoro fishes his keys out of his pocket and leans against the door.

She? Oh. Sanji had… well… he'd sort of assumed that Robin was a guy friend who owned the place that Zoro was couch surfing at. But Robin as a girl could well be Zoro's girlfriend. Damnit, she probably was. But… but if she was why was Zoro moving out? And why had he mentioned sleeping on people's sofas? Perhaps his girlfriend didn't feel ready to have him really move in yet, though she'd have to be stupid not to want to see Zoro around all the time.

"So, Robin is… your girlfriend or something?" Sanji asks, trying to force his voice into being as casual as possible instead of a tone that screams 'oh god, please say no!' instead.

"AHAHAHA! Seriously? What, no. She's- wait." Zoro pauses in his laughing and peers suspiciously around the very nice looking apartment that he's just opened the door to.

"Robin? Robin are you home?" He calls out, stepping into the room. He pauses and listens, the flat sounds quiet and empty with no sign of anyone being home.

"Robin?" He calls a little louder, to no response. Apparently satisfied with this Zoro turns back to him and speaks again.

"Yeah, no. Robin and I are definitely _not_ dating, for _several_ huge reasons." Zoro explains, shutting the door behind Sanji and leading him to the sofa. Sanji can see that there's an open suitcase under the coffee table which Zoro leans down to grab.

Sanji frankly doesn't care too much why they're not dating, as long as Zoro is not dating this mystery Robin he is happy for now. But Zoro apparently is going to explain anyway.

"For one, she's nine years older than me- which is fine, I don't think that she's old, but I'm pretty sure that she thinks I'm young. And secondly, she's fucking terrifying." Zoro grins at him.

"Oi, don't be a jerk about a lady like that. That's impolite." Sanji shoots back on principle and shoves Zoro in the shoulder, nearly toppling him into his suitcase.

"I couldn't agree more." A silky voice says from behind both of them, making him leap about a foot in the air and Zoro suck in a startled breath. He scrambles around and stares at the frankly gorgeous woman who had snuck up behind them like some kind of ghost. She's beautiful, with refined angular face and a straight nose which makes her look more like some marble carved goddess than a living, breathing woman. Her eyes are captivatingly blue with a hint of danger in them, a wry smile pulls on her full lips. He looks her up and down, her figure is voluptuous but still somehow slender, she's all curves in a way that Sanji had only thought airbrushed models with the help of photoshop could be.

"I didn't know you were still here." Zoro says flatly from somewhere behind Sanji.

"Evidently." The raven haired siren purrs with a threat of danger in her voice.

"See, this kind of shit is why you're fucking terrifying, you're a homicidal ninja." Zoro snorts.

"Zoro!" Sanji squawks indignantly, that idiot can't talk to a beautiful lady like that! Zoro's gaze doesn't even flick his way though.

"Don't you forget it." The lady smirks, her voice cold and sinister. A shudder ghosts up Sanji's spine and the look on the lovely lady's face is a macabre kind of malevolence that makes Sanji feel a little… unsafe right now.

"After what you did to poor Franky? No way, I know what you're like." Zoro smirks with, Sanji notes, a certain tone of affection and mirth in his voice under the layer of deadpan.

This situation is… weird. Sanji doesn't know what's going on with these two and he's not entirely happy with it either.

"Speaking of Franky, I thought he was supposed to be helping you move, instead you're with…" she trails off, casting her curious eyes his way.

"Oh, shit. Sorry. This is Sanji. Sanji, Robin, Robin, Sanji." Zoro hastily introduces them, gesturing from one to the other.

"Pleased to meet you my lady." He flutters despite himself, bowing in awe of Robin's magnificent beauty.

"Oh my, I'm very pleased to meet you too Sanji. I've heard _nothing_ about you." Robin smiles catlike at him, her eyes flicking back to Zoro with a smirk on her lips. Zoro looks considerably uncomfortable under Robin's gaze.

"He's a friend." The other man says tightly, looking extremely displeased with this conversation. Despite himself Sanji can't help but feel the thing that may well be his heart fluttering in his chest, Zoro called him his friend! This morning he hadn't been sure that Zoro had thought of him at all beyond being some chatty guy that he talked to in some restaurant, but… but Zoro thinks more of him than that.

"I see." Robin says knowingly and looks sidelong at Sanji, her expression turning into a cunning grin. Sanji wonders what expression she's seen on him to make her make that kind of expression but he supposes that he'll never know, not when Zoro interrupts with something as abrupt as:

"Don't you have a goddamn job to go to?" the green-head growls menacingly.

"Indeed I do. Well, have fun boys. Bye-bye." Robin smiles charmingly at them and saunters out of the flat with an elegant wave and a waft of floral perfume.

By the time Sanji scrambles his brain together Zoro is already back to grumbling to himself under his breath as he shoves a few things into a suitcase.

"Oi, what's your deal? You shouldn't talk to a lady like that!" He reprimands, kicking Zoro in the elbow.

"Hey, if you knew her like I did, if you heard some of the creepy shit that she says you'd understand. Besides, Robin's cool." Zoro says shaking his head. He steps past the table and grabs what Sanji had just assumed to be some decoration off of the mantelpiece, as Zoro turns he sees that it's a sword in a sheath.

"Whoa, is that yours? Is it real?" he asks in interest, his hand reaching out to touch but not quite daring. Zoro's smile is broad and slightly dangerous as he pulls the sword from the sheath. God the thing is sharp and dangerous looking.

"Yeah she's real and… yeah, she's mine now." Zoro says. Sanji's eye stares back at him, reflected in the blade's pristine surface.

"Now? Did it take you ages to pay her off or something? This looks like one hell of an expensive sword." He whistles, impresses with it.

"Well, it's an antique. An heirloom actually. Kuina's father gave it to her, I was just keeping it safe until she got better but… well." Zoro trails off and snaps the hilt back over the sword and tucks the thing into his belt, Sanji can't help but notice the way that Zoro runs his thumb sadly over the metal end of the sword hilt.

Sanji doesn't know whether Zoro wants to talk about her or not. Sometimes if something to do with Kuina comes up in conversation Zoro will dodge right around the subject and avoid the whole topic, but sometimes he brings it up deliberately and tells Sanji things about her or about how he misses her. Right now seems to be the avoid it situation as Zoro grabs up his bags and shoves one into Sanji's chest and leads the way out of Robin's home. He takes the hint and follows in silence, heading down the stairs whilst Zoro locks up.

He comes out to the camero and slides Zoro's stuff into the back and buckles himself in. Zoro hops into the passenger seat with his sword resting between his knees.

"Where to now?" Sanji asks, starting the engine and thoroughly avoiding the question of Zoro's dead friend.

"Storage, it's on the main road that leads to the stadium." Zoro explains. Sanji nods and pulls off, he knows where he's going.

"So… how much stuff have you got in there? Is this gonna be three trips? Four?" he asks curiously as he indicates and pulls right.

"Nah, just one. I really don't have much." Zoro answers.

"Hmm… moves around a lot, not a lot of possessions. Are you a hobo?" Sanji guesses with a grin.

"I don't think hobo is a job title, and no. Guess again." The green-haired man smirks at him. Something in Sanji's chest settles a little at seeing that smile on Zoro's face.

"Lifeguard?" He guesses again hopefully, the idea of Zoro soaking wet and in skin-tight swimming trunks has a certain appeal. It'd explain the tan too.

"Oooh, I did do that one summer, but not now. Sorry." Zoro laughs and Sanji sorely wishes that he knew Zoro that summer.

"I'll guess, you'll see." Sanji argues back and kicks up some speed on the road, overtaking some idiot on his phone.

"Hey, so how long have you worked at the Baratie?" Zoro asks conversationally.

"Since I was about seven I guess. My old man owns the place, he adopted me when I was five and we saved for ages to finally afford it and I've been there ever since." Sanji answers.

"That must be nice." Zoro smiles, a little wistful perhaps.

"If you like living with your boss, then sure. It has its moments though." He adds with a touch of honesty, because cooking is his life, his love. Zoro looks a little melancholy and Sanji can't help but wonder if he's thinking of his dead friend.

"What about you? Have you got family nearby?" he asks, curious and wanting to pry more into Zoro's life.

"No, I've not got any family. All dead. I've got my friends though." Zoro shrugs, apparently unbothered by this. Despite Zoro's nonchalance about that statement, (he doesn't even look wounded or anything he's just staring out the window for fucks sake!) Sanji feels for him. It's not right.

"I don't have any friends." He blurts out unthinkingly and immediately wants to eat the words back up. Stupid! What will Zoro think of him now? The green haired man is staring at him wide eyed and Sanji briefly considers crashing the car and killing them both just to get out of this conversation.

"I don't believe that." Zoro says suspiciously and Sanji stays silent, squirming in his seat. The uncomfortable air apparently convinces Zoro though and the other man's eyebrows raise high on his face.

"How come?" Zoro asks with completely blatant curiosity.

"I'm kind of an asshole if you hadn't noticed." He grits out and distracts himself with indicating and looking for his exit.

"Only kind of." Zoro replies, making Sanji look at him in surprise. Zoro's grin is broad and slightly mean but his eyes are soft, as Sanji watches the grin cracks into something warmer and Sanji realises that this was meant to be some kind of stupid compliment.

"Shitty bastard." He mutters, making the turn and willing away the redness in his face.

"None at all though?" Zoro asks after a moment.

"No. The hours don't help either." He offers in some defence.

"Well. People are overrated anyway, mostly all idiots too." The other man grins, stretching his arms over his head and arching his back against the camero seat and making Sanji seriously want to break his no sex in the camero rule even if he is driving right now.

"I know, right? Always talking, fucking mouth breathers. Using their phones and shit." Sanji agrees.

"Having lives and feeling the need to interrupt yours too." The other man chimes in with an evil grin.

"Definitely. It'll be better when we're all extinct." He agrees.

"I guess this means that if you ever think of me as your friend I'll have to, what, jump off a bridge or something?" Zoro asks, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that." Sanji says seriously, making Zoro crack up with laugher. It's infectious and Sanji's giggling as well, so much so that he almost doesn't see the storage place and pull over in time.

He follows Zoro into the building and eventually they find a small storage unit that matches Zoro's key. He slides it open. Inside are a few pieces of furniture, a beat up old sofa and a few chairs, a shitty coffee table and a couple of decent sized boxes. He raises an eyebrow, there's no way he could or would even try to get that sofa into his car, and the coffee table is pushing it too.

"Don't look like that, the place is furnished. I only need the boxes." Zoro says, apparently catching his look.

Sanji shrugs and Zoro hands him one of the boxes, it's reasonably heavy but he doesn't complain as Zoro drops another on top of the box in his hands. Zoro stacks several together and then lifts them all up together in one impressive movement. Zoro walks out of the unit and Sanji follows, he watches as Zoro lifts one leg up and shifts the weight of the boxes to one hand and a knee as he rummages in his pocket for the key. Sanji shamelessly takes the opportunity to watch the play of muscles under Zoro's skin and tries to avoid the temptation to bite him. Zoro nudges the door shut with a narrow hip and locks it one handed before shoving the keys back into his jeans. He hefts the boxes, his back muscles tensing under the heavy load before he sets off down the hallway. Sanji follows, trying to wrench his mind out of the gutter and holding the boxes low enough to disguise his half hard state.

"You didn't have to do this." Zoro says, Sanji supposes that it's kind of another thank you from Zoro. They put the boxes into the back of the car, and only just fill it up. Zoro wasn't joking when he said that he didn't have much stuff.

"Where to now?" Sanji asks, instead of saying you're welcome. Zoro fishes an envelope out of his other pocket and hands it to Sanji, it's got an address on it, printed, and Sanji can see from the scuff on the paper an outline of where a key used to be in the envelope. The address itself is familiar to Sanji.

"Hey, this is like half a block from my house! You're just around the corner!" Sanji exclaims happily.

"Great, now I don't have to pretend to know where I'm going." Zoro grins as Sanji reverses out of the storage parking lot and drives in the direction of home.

Zoro's building is literally the one next to Sanji's, though he's a little lower down the building than Sanji is in his. It's a little more run down than Sanji's building, which says something as Sanji doesn't exactly live in the Ritz himself. The lift is broken so they heft the boxes up the stairs in one trip, neither opting to do the sensible thing and take those storage boxes in two easy trips, instead they're trying to out macho each other or some shit like that, though they'll have to go back for Zoro's suitcases and his sword.

Zoro lets him into his apartment, the number to which Sanji burns into his brain like the desperate stalker that he's apparently becoming. The place is nice, bare but nice. With the exception of what Sanji assumes to be the bathroom everything is in the one room. There's a metal framed bed just within sight of the door with cupboards and built in wardrobes around it, in the middle of the room is a beat up old sofa facing the wall which has a mark on it where previous tenants have obviously had a TV. In the far edge of the room is a decent little kitchen with counters around the edge, if this was Sanji's place he'd set up bar stools there so that you could have breakfast there in the morning sunlight.

Seriously, he's not fucking imagining living here with Zoro. He barely knows the man. God he's such a psycho.

Zoro puts his boxes on the floor and opens the top one, out of it he pulls a duvet and pillows which he hurls at the bed before carefully flattening the box and tossing it aside. He seems intent on unpacking right whilst Sanji's there, making the blonde feel a little awkward.

"I'll… I'll go get your suitcases and your sword, yeah?" He says, stepping backwards.

"Thanks!" Zoro calls from the inside of a larger box.

Sanji rushes down the stairs and wonders if he's doing the right thing here. Is he getting in too deep with someone who's really a stranger? Has he just built up some idea in his head of what Zoro is like and is he going to be disappointed the more he gets to know Zoro? Maybe, but he hasn't been yet.

He pulls Zoro's suitcases out with one hand and picks up his sword with the other. He closes the door to his baby carefully and thinks. He's gotten infatuated with this guy pretty quickly, he's never fallen for anyone quite so fast before but he has felt passionately about people before. It's… never ended well. Sensibly he knows that he should back off, there's no guarantee that Zoro even likes guys at all and Sanji may well get his heart broken here.

He bites his lip and promises himself that after today he'll try to avoid flirting with Zoro, he'll try to keep himself in check and just be Zoro's friend. He'll watch the other man like a hawk for any sign that the other man might be into him as more than just friends and if so he'll bite the bullet and lay his feelings out there. Until then though, he should just be happy to have a new friend and an unwitting star of his mental fantasies. He can do that.

He runs up the stairs and re-enters Zoro's place. The other man spots him, smiles and takes his sword back, he carefully leans it against his bed frame and takes his suitcases from Sanji as well. Zoro doesn't give him anything to do and doesn't tell him to leave either, leaving Sanji in a dithering state of uncertainty. Eventually he leans down and opens up a box, figuring that if Zoro wants to tell him to fuck off he will.

He finds a pair of smart shoes and a suit, obviously not something Zoro felt the need to keep on him often as he didn't have it at Robin's. He gives them to Zoro in his bedroom and the other man looks at them disdainfully before putting them away, interesting.

Next he finds a few books, all about swords or sword fighting techniques. Zoro doesn't have a bookcase so he stacks them next to the sofa. Next Zoro has a few really nice beer glasses, some fancy shot glasses too. Those he puts in a cupboard in the kitchen along with a small box that has "cutlery" scrawled on it in biro. He unpacks that box into a drawer and finds the biro with it, he leaves the on the side. The extent of Zoro's cooking equipment horrifies him he has one medium sized saucepan with an unstable looking handle and a chip in the side and a frying pan where half of the non-stick coating has come off. With the addition of a wooden spoon with the end broken off and a spatula that seems slightly melted that's all he has.

"Are you fucking kidding me with this cooking equipment?" He says out loud, looking up at a guilty looking Zoro.

"Ah… I didn't really want you to see that. I can't cook really, so… yeah." Zoro confesses with an air of embarrassment.

"That is just… I don't have words. Look at this!" He says indignantly holding up the awful excuse for a frying pan.

"I can make eggs! Well… fried or scrambled, and mainly they're only scrambled if I screw up frying them. Oh, and toast! And pasta, boil it for 20 minutes and then throw a sauce from a jar on it." Zoro says quickly, hurting Sanji's soul with each word. What kind of demon cooks _pasta_ for 20 goddamn minutes?!

"You need to stop talking now, you're ruining my brain." Sanji insists, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tries to repress the horror. He looks up at Zoro and thinks bitterly that Zoro does _not_ deserve that body if he eats like that.

"Listen, you need to unpack and I think I need to go home and look at my cooking equipment after that. You are going to buy new equipment tomorrow or I swear I'll kill you and dump your body in the ocean. But listen, you're not going to want to do whatever pathetic excuse for cooking that you do after you're done unpacking, so come over to mine and I'll cook for you if you like. Here." He says grabbing Zoro's hand and using that biro he found earlier to write his address and phone number on the palm of Zoro's hand.

"Did… did you just threaten to murder me and ask me over for dinner at the same time?" Zoro asks, staring at his hand wide eyed.

"Yes." Sanji answers, jutting his jaw out as if to challenge Zoro to call him on that. The edge of Zoro's mouth quirks up in a grin.

"See you later then I guess." The other man smirks at him.

"Later." Sanji agrees and saunters out of Zoro's flat as cool as anything and far different to the shaking wreck that he is inside.

He pulls the door to behind him and freaks out in the privacy of his head. What the fuck was that? He practically just asked Zoro out, he could hardly be more forward without dropping to his knees and opening Zoro's fly with his teeth! Shit shit shit! He's such a shitty idiot. What if Zoro doesn't come over? What if he _does_?


	3. Chapter 3

Sanji has this fantasy about Zoro. Okay, he has about a million, but one in particular is coursing through his veins right now. He imagines that he'll be at Zoro's one night, he'll be showing off his cooking skills making something just for the two of them. Zoro will be sitting hopped up on the work surface, his feet idly kicking against the drawers as they talk. He can see the beer in Zoro's hand, he can imagine the drops of condensation on its surface running down to Zoro's fingers.

He'll ask Zoro to pass him something and the man won't respond, so he'll go to get it himself. But it'll turn out that Zoro was listening all along and just didn't answer. As he steps into the corner where Zoro is the other man will slide off of the counter top to the floor to reach… whatever it was Sanji wanted. It doesn't matter because then, by sheer fluke, Zoro will be pressed up against him. He'll be able to feel every hot line of Zoro's body just radiating through his clothes and he'll be so, so close.

Zoro's cheeks will flush red and though his eyes won't meet Sanji's right away he'll know that Zoro is thinking just the same thing he is. So with all anxiety forgotten he'll simply lean into Zoro, trap him against the kitchen surfaces and claim his lips. His hands will find the counter top and he'll wind his fingers around Zoro's. The green haired man's lips will part with a gasp and Sanji will chase his way into his mouth.

He has fantasies about Zoro grabbing him and throwing him into bed, but in this one Zoro's not like that. In this fantasy it's him who does the chasing, maybe he'll be the first man that Zoro's been with. Maybe before him Zoro's not been attracted to men and when he came along he turned Zoro's world upside down. In this one Zoro is cautious and needy, maybe in this one Zoro's so still because he can't believe that _his_ fantasies have come true. Oh yeah, that's a good part, that maybe Zoro does this too. Maybe Zoro dedicates hot dreams to him and steam filled mornings in the shower to him, maybe Zoro can't help but do this too and perhaps he wants Sanji so much as well that in moments like this he's just frozen because something he wants so bad is _finally_ happening.

Either way Zoro will gasp when Sanji kisses him and of course Sanji will use that excuse to invade Zoro's mouth further because it'll be so clear from how Zoro will kiss him back that he wants it just as badly. He'll let Zoro's mouth go only to bite those three earrings.

"Sanji-" Zoro will gasp brokenly into his ear.

Fuck. That didn't last long. Sanji curls around his hand in the shower as he shudders out the rest of his orgasm. He scrubs his body and sighs at himself. This is getting stupid, he's getting off to Zoro at least once a day now. But still, it serves a purpose.

The knocking on the front door makes him jump and swear, leaping out of the shower and roughly towelling off as he curses himself for losing track of time.

"Hold on!" He shouts loudly and drags boxers and jeans over his still damp body. He grabs a shirt as he dashes out of the bathroom towards the front door and is just tugging it down when he opens the front door.

"Zombieland." Zoro grins deviously at him, holding up the DVD as he leans on Sanji's door frame.

"This had better be at least half as good as you said it was." Sanji threatens, stepping aside to let Zoro in his home. He shuts the door after him and takes a calming breath before following Zoro to the living room and kitchen area.

"It's even better." Zoro laughs, already opening up his DVD player and chucking the disc in.

"Pft. Is that even possible? You bigged this thing up so much. Hey, beer?" He calls as he heads to the kitchen.

"Yeah man." Zoro agrees from somewhere behind the sofa. Sanji retrieves the beers, returns to the sofa and drops himself into the seat and very deliberately doesn't look at Zoro's ass as he is knelt on the floor changing the audio settings on the speakers.

When Zoro settles onto the sofa near him and takes a beer, his fingers just grazing Sanji's. He doesn't think about his fantasy where he twined his fingers with Zoro and plundered his mouth with his tongue. And he won't either. Until he's got even the slightest clue that Zoro feels the same way about him he won't do a thing. This is the best friendship he's had in his entire life and no one makes him happier than Zoro does when he's with him.

"We'll see, moss head." He teases as he grins back at Zoro and clinks his beer with him as the film begins.

He won't ruin this. Not even for the sake of a million fantasies.


	4. Chapter 4

Zoro slicks his hands through his hair, it's still a little wet after his post-run shower. It'll dry soon enough though, it's a nice warm day. He sidles into the Baratie as he usually does at least once a day, the amazingly irritating blonde isn't behind the counter for once, and instead he's sitting in one of the booths by the window.

Surprisingly for Sanji he doesn't even notice Zoro come in, but he's on the phone in all fairness. His eyes are screwed shut and his teeth are gritted. In his free hand he's tensely winding a butter knife around his fingers, sliding it between one then the other so that it makes its way up and down his hand, every so often he seems to just spin it and clutch it tensely as if he wants to leap through the phone and stab whomever he's talking to.

"Yes, I _got_ that but-" Sanji grits out between his teeth.

"No, look… isn't there someone else I can talk to? Someone higher up? We just need a few more months to catch up, we're paying you whatever we can manage, it's not like we've not paid at all." Sanji reasons, spinning the knife in his hand and tapping at it tensely with his nails.

"Listen, I know that you've got a job to do but we just need more time to pay the mortgage. Can't you just drop us down to interest only one, even if just for a little while? I'm working all the hours of the day to keep this place open and we can't just-" Sanji pleads, sounding broken. Zoro hesitates in the floor of the middle of the restaurant, he probably shouldn't be hearing this.

"_Please_, this restaurant is everything to my father, we're giving you all we have. Can't you just make an exception this once?" the blonde begs. Zoro frowns and peers at the table, there are bank statements, order forms and final demand letters from the bank all over the place.

"The end of the month isn't- hello? Are you still there? Hello? Oh shit fuck shit shit _shit_!" Sanji snarls, slamming the phone on the table and burying his head in his hands.

"Sanji?" Zoro calls quietly, touching the blonde on the shoulder and startling him.

Sanji looks up at him with stunned tearful eyes, though Zoro can actually only see the one of them. Ever since Kuina died Sanji's somehow become one of the most important people in Zoro's life perhaps… perhaps even the most important. Sanji's brilliant wit and shitty grin was what helped Zoro stick his heart back together after that phone call about Kuina's death shattered it. It's only been a few months but still, he sees him every day, they hang out together. With Sanji around Zoro feels whole in a way that he can't explain.

Only now Sanji looks as bad as he felt the day Kuina died.

"Oh god, Zoro. I didn't even- I'm so sorry I was- let me get you-" Sanji stammers out, trying to get to his feet. Zoro puts pressure on his shoulder and shoves him back into his seat, like hell is he going to let the cook run around after him when he's like this.

"Talk, or I kick your ass. You know I will." Zoro threatens. And he means it too, he and Sanji have had their scuffles since they met, arguments that became so heated that blows were exchanged. Admittedly it is mostly a way of letting off steam and it always pretty quickly devolves to scuffling on the floor, kneeing and elbowing each other until one of them gives up. It usually takes a while but judging by the grin on Sanji's face whenever they fight it always makes both of them feel a mile better. Zoro would admit in the privacy of his head that being sprawled out on the living room floor with Sanji all banged up, sore and sweaty that it was almost as good a stress reliever as sex. Not that he ever thought of Sanji like that of course. Still, fighting with Sanji was easier than getting laid and usually he got a beer and some good conversation after.

Still, a fight isn't what the blonde needs now, right now he needs to talk.

Sanji looks sick. His gaze drops to the paper on the table.

"It's the bank. This place used to be hugely popular so we could afford a really big mortgage on the place, we always turned a really decent profit with enough left over to save or splurge on really fancy ingredients. But then I pissed off some middle man at a fancy newspaper and he went around to all of his friends telling them how awful we were." Sanji explains tightly.

"He even went so far as to bribe health inspectors to harass us when there was never anything wrong with the place at all. You know how finicky I am about cleaning up when I cook." Sanji argues fiercely, looking up at Zoro with determined eyes.

"You're pretty anal about it. But couldn't you just have appealed? There must be something in place to get you re-tested." He frowns at the blonde.

"We did, and they reversed their decision, but the damage was done. No one came to eat here anymore and we had to shut down the other half of the place, through there." Sanji says, pointing to the screen that separates the Baratie from what Zoro had always assumed to be an empty building next door.

"We had to cut back on staff so it's just me and Zeff, but the geezer is old and he can't work endlessly like I can, so we have to pay Patty and Carne to fill in when he needs time off, he still does forty hour weeks though. But with the outgoings and shit we just… we've been under paying on the mortgage and I've been trying my luck with the bank for the last six months but…" Sanji cuts himself off with a shake of the head.

"If I don't pay them for the last two months at least then they'll come in at the end of the month and repossess the place." Sanji finishes tightly, dropping his head into his hands. He's shaking slightly and Zoro thinks that he might be crying.

Zoro is reeling. He knows just how much this place means to Sanji, it's his life and it was his old man's dream. Sanji would do anything for this place and for his old man. This explains why Sanji never takes a day off if he can help it though, if he does someone else has to cover him and, Zoro guesses, they have to pay for it. For a paranoid moment he wonders if Sanji's refusal to let Zoro pay for his food every time has done this, but he shakes it off. The mortgage for a restaurant as big as this, if they do indeed own next door too, in a place as nice and central like it is… it must be phenomenal. His meals that Sanji occasionally gives him for free are just a drop in the ocean in comparison.

"How much would it take to save this place?" He demands, grabbing Sanji's shoulder.

"Zoro, I can't take money from you, and I doubt you have that much just lying around anyway." Sanji answers shaking his head.

"I didn't say that, just how short are you?" he asks again.

"Forty grand, and I've got ten days to earn that in. It's not going to happen, we've lost." The blonde says in a tiny voice and Zoro feels the tremor that runs through him.

"That won't happen, I won't let it. How many people could you get in here, how many could you feed as an absolute maximum?" Zoro questions him, leaping up and looking around the place.

"Like… two hundred at a push. But even in our prime we so rarely-" Sanji protests with a deep frown.

"I don't care, could you feed them if you had to?" He presses, turning back to the confused blonde.

"Well, yes but-"

That's all the answer Sanji needs, Zoro is already running for the door.

"Get everyone working here tonight, get as much food as you can and open up for everyone. You're not going out of business Sanji, not whilst I'm around!" He yells over his shoulder as he sprints out the door.

He heads to the Galley-La company first to see Franky but on the way he pulls out his phone and calls Luffy.

"Oi, Luffy! I've got this great place to eat, we're gonna have a huge party there tonight, we've got the whole place to ourselves. I swear, you can eat until you explode, just pay for it." He pants down the phone as he runs.

"Oh BOY! Is it really good? You know that buffet place won't let me back, they said I ruined the all you can eat deal. Will this place have enough food for me? Oh, can Ace come too?" Luffy gasps excitedly.

"Bring Ace, I don't care if you have to drag him there. All you have to do is pay, alright? It's called the Baratie and it's right on All Blue road, running right through town. Tonight at seven, be there!" He orders as Luffy hangs up with an excited whoop. Well that's Luffy and Ace sorted, no doubt Ace will bring his boyfriend Marco or whatever.

It doesn't matter as by now he's at Galley La. He runs through the buildings, ignoring people shouting at him until he runs into Franky.

"Franky! You know how you said that you owed me big for bailing on me when you were supposed to help me move?" Zoro gasps, trying to catch his breath as Franky looks up at him dubiously from some complicated schematic or plan that Zoro will never understand.

"Yeah but, Zoro-bro, I'm working here. How did you even manage to run in here past everyone? Security should have-" Franky frowns at him.

"Don't care, not my problem. You owe me, time to pay up. There's this restaurant on All Blue road, the Baratie. I need you to bring as many people there tonight as possible and eat there." He orders the blue haired guy.

"I can't just get everyone to-" Franky protests weakly.

"I know you can, and you owe me. Do this for me and we're even, I'll even owe you if I have to, just get everyone there!" Zoro argues back as he backs out of Franky's office.

"Why are you so insistent on this place? What's up with you?" the engineer questions him, following him out of the room.

"It's a favour for a friend, just bring everyone!" He shouts over his shoulder as he heads off in the direction of the university to see Robin.

"A friend? What friend Zoro?! OI!" Franky hollers after him but Zoro is already dialling Usopp's number as he runs.

Zoro spends all morning bouncing from place to place, hitting up all of his friends, all of the mutual friends that he has. He even goes so far as to call up flings and his semi-regular booty call to get them to show up as well. He calls in favours, accepts owing people favours, and even goes so far as to promise to buy half of Nami's drink for her to get her to bring her family. All told though he's fairly certain that Sanji will have people queuing out the door tonight, and he got the people who couldn't make it tonight to agree to show up tomorrow.

He texts the Baratie's address out to so many people that he's sure he sees it when he shuts his eyes. That was of course if he image he saw when he shut his eyes wasn't Sanji's tearful face. Every time he thinks about his friend losing the thing he loves most it feels like his heart is being ripped out. He won't let Sanji suffer like that, and if it means that he has to stomach parties with friends of friends that he doesn't really like then he'll do it a million times over. Anything to never have to see Sanji looking like that again.

When he shows up at six feeling dog tired there are already near thirty people there, forty if you count how many Ace and Luffy are eating for and more are coming in all the time. He smiles in relief and heads over to the D brothers who are wolfing down food like it's going out of style. He doesn't get there though because Sanji catches his arm and pulls him close.

"Zoro, what the hell? All these people say that you told them to be here, did you call up everyone you knew or something?" Sanji asks him, wide eyed with his hand on Zoro's elbow.

"You can feed them all right? Because there's way more coming tonight." He asks with a frown.

"Well, sure but… how many more?" the blonde asks wide eyed.

"You're not gonna have any seats left by the end of tonight. Do you need me to get anything so that you can feed everyone?" he questions, leaning into Sanji's space a little to be heard.

Sanji looks at him, his blue eye shining and looking at him as if he's only just seen him for the first time or something.

"Really that many people?" the blonde asks in a tiny voice.

"I said so. You're not going to be short of that money, so, do you need me?" He asks.

"Shit. I can send Patty out to get more food and I can cook faster than him at any rate and better. Could… could you wait for me? Take people's orders?" Sanji asks him, looking hesitant to ask that much.

"Sure thing. You got something to write on?" He asks. Sanji nods and hands him the pen and paper from his pocket, taking the filled sheets on top. Zoro nods and turns to go to Robin and her university friends as they come in the door.

"Zoro, you got all these people here for me?" the cook asks him from his side, his expression intense but unreadable.

"Of course I did, moron, who else would I have done it for? Go cook, dumbass." He snorts and shoves Sanji in the direction of the kitchen.

He then heads for Robin and her friends.

"So this is where your little friend Sanji is from." Robin purrs as she slides in next to Nami and her sister.

"You knew about this guy?" Nami gasps, looking at Robin.

"He helped Zoro move out of mine, they were very friendly." Robin says innocently in a way that suggests that Zoro had thrown Sanji down on her couch and fucked him or something. Which is stupid because, duh, this was Sanji and it's not like that. But her goddamn _tone_ implies otherwise.

"Zoro!" Nami's sister gasps with a sinful grin. Shit, Zoro can't remember her name. It starts with N. God, this is why he doesn't hang out with his friend's friends or family, he doesn't like talking to people when he's not drunk and he doesn't like talking to people he doesn't really care about. Not that there's anything wrong with Nami's sister, she's just not one of his friends is all.

"Are you working here now Zoro? What about your job?" Nami questions him with a frown.

"I'm only working here tonight, and it's just for Sanji. I'm doing him a favour. Now, are you gonna order something or not?" He prompts with a scowl.

"Social skills Zoro, work on them. What's good here anyways?" Nami asks with a curious frown.

"Everything is amazing, pick something." He growls. They all eventually order and he manages to write the orders all down in neat handwriting that he really hopes Sanji can read. He even manages to write all their drink orders down too and ignore all of their prying questions and giggling laughs.

He rushes around handing order after order to Sanji and working out how to serve drinks, with Sanji yelling instructions at him through the open hatch in the wall behind the bar.

By the end of the evening the place is absolutely packed, with people crowded into booths far more than they should and people having paid and left and new ones replaced them. The compliments are effusive and Zoro readily tells anyone who will listen to come back tomorrow and, hey, the place is open for breakfast and lunch too!

Before too long the pace of ordering has slowed down enough for Sanji to take over as Patty works in the kitchen, just keeping Sanji's dishes ticking over and replenishing as he needs to. Sanji is not only a better cook but a seamless waiter too, putting Zoro's efforts to shame. The cook eventually forces him into a seat at the bar and makes him some special off the menu dish that Zoro has no idea what it is but tastes fantastic. Afterwards he's not sure that he could tell you what was in it beyond just gesturing at the empty plate and making satisfied sounds.

He decides to get his friends drinking more to drive the bill up, he knows that they're good for it anyway. So he sits at their table and starts a drinking contest with Nami which the others all try to keep up with a little. Sanji comes over and starts dishing out drinks.

"SO, SANJI." Nami blurts slightly drunkenly, catching the cook by the elbow. Zoro winces inside, this will be bad.

"How long have you known ZORO here?" She asks overly loudly, gesturing to Zoro who is rapidly regretting getting her drunk at all.

"Uh… a little while my loveliness." Sanji answers, perplexed but still ruthlessly polite.

"So a couple of years? How come you've never told us 'bout him Zoro?! What's with you?!" Nami accuses him and kicks him under the table.

"You're drunk, shut up." Zoro growls back, earning himself a whap on the head from Sanji's order pad for the insult.

"It's actually more like three months, that about right?" Sanji answers, flicking a look to Zoro. Zoro nods and slides down in his seat as all of his friends bar Robin nearly disjoint their necks in their sudden haste to look shocked at Sanji.

"What?" The blonde asks surprised as Zoro tries to calculate the odds of getting caught if he just slides under the table and crawls away from what is sure to be an awful conversation.

"Zoro never makes friends that quickly! We all had to force ourselves on him!" Luffy laughs loudly.

"You all but stalked me for a month, that's not normal!" Zoro argues back, but Luffy just laughs.

"It took you six months to stop looking at me like I was planning to kill you." Robin points out softly.

"And I'm still not sure about that, look will you just-" he protests but Usopp is cutting over him.

"Yeah, and it was about the same until Zoro ever called me and invited me anywhere without Luffy!" the longnose chips in, a few of the others agree.

"Look, will you stop making me look like some evil people-phobic bastard!" He snarls at them.

"Zoro-bro, you don't like people. You know everyone in this room but the only people you actually decide to let be your friends are on this table." Franky says solemnly, gesturing to them all.

Zoro deliberately does not look up at Sanji, he doesn't want to know what kind of expression the cook is wearing right now.

"And for Zoro to do all of this for you so _soon_…" Nami continues but seems unable to find the words and instead just laughs in disbelief.

"I think I left some whiskey behind the bar." Zoro mutters, getting up from the table and stalking over to the bar. He grabs a third full bottle of whiskey, drops thirty dollars in the till and leans against the side of the bar to drink in peace.

He doesn't want to know what his friends are saying to Sanji. He's really not as bad as all of that. He just… he's clear on what people are. He has lovers, he has friends and he has people he tolerates. There are also people he hates but he didn't invite any of them. Why should he pretend to be friends with someone if he isn't really? It's just rude. It's not like he's crazy or anything.

He glances to the side to see Sanji standing silent and wide eyed as his friends laugh and talk to him. The blonde looks his way and pins Zoro with a look of confusion and something… something deeper. He's seen Sanji look at him that way before, late at night when they've had a bit to drink Sanji looks at him sometimes with real affection in his eyes. It's a testament to how powerful their new friendship has become that Sanji can seemingly put that intense bond into a look that right now has frozen Zoro to the spot.

He shakes it off and heads out the back and offers to wash up. Zeff gladly accepts his help and to Zoro's pleasure leaves him in silence.

Zoro glances out into the restaurant and sees Sanji tallying up bills and the people he invited gladly paying up and tipping heavily, as they should for such amazing food. The till is overflowing and the beep of the card machine is continuous. Zoro smiles to himself, no way the Baratie is going out of business now, he can hear Luffy and Ace swearing to come here every day.

Eventually everyone trails out of the restaurant at about two in the morning and Sanji joins him at the sink where the cook washes and Zoro dries.

"How much did you make?" he questions after a little while.

"There's costs as well of course but… I think about fifty grand I don't… that's more than I needed for the rest of the month. How did you even manage that?" Sanji asks him, leaning away from the sink as the last of the water drains out of it and he dries his hands.

"I just called in a lot of favours and got my friends to call everyone they knew. Some couldn't make it so I hope you'll be able to serve the same number tomorrow too." He shrugs, sliding the last of the plates away into a cupboard off to the side.

Sanji's hand catches on the back of his shirt and the blonde rests his head on the back of Zoro's neck, he stays still.

"How can I ever repay you for this? You've saved us, in one night you've…" Sanji breathes against Zoro's back. He can feel Sanji's eyelashes on his neck.

He turns and the cook is so close, his face flushed with emotion that makes Zoro's heart warm. Sanji _loves_ this place so goddamn much, it's just radiating from him, and now he gets to keep it.

"You don't owe me a thing. I told you, I wouldn't let your dream die whilst I was around." He grins back.

"But still…" Sanji frowns.

"Sanji, you're one of my closest friends, you don't owe me a thing. Unfortunately now you're not gonna be able to get rid of them, so I hope you liked them, Luffy especially." He teases, that makes the cook laugh.

"I've never seen anyone eat like that." Sanji agrees with a chuckle, heading out to the front to clean the tables. He throws Zoro a wet rag and he helps out, turning chairs onto the table when he's done.

They're both dog tired so they mostly clean up in silence, though he catches the cook staring at him over and over again, with some unreadable expression on his face. He must just be so overwhelmed at not losing the Baratie. Zoro smiles, it feels good to help Sanji out, he deserves it. He made the worst day of his life okay, the least he can do is this.

When Sanji locks up, they both walk home together, shoulders bumping tiredly as they follow the route together, Sanji's building is just beyond his after all. They come to a stop at the foot of Zoro's building and as he turns to say goodnight to the cook he finds Sanji giving him that overwhelmed expression again.

"If you thank me again or say you can't repay me one more time I swear you'll be picking your teeth up off of the floor." He threatens, getting quite tired of Sanji making him feel weird inside from the gratitude or whatever. He thinks it's that expression Sanji keeps wearing.

The blonde laughs and instead does something unexpected. He leaps forward and wraps his arms around Zoro's neck, pulling him tight into a hug that says all those things and more. His hands linger on Sanji's sides for a moment before sliding around his back and holding him close as well.

"Careful shitty cook, I might think that you're being nice to me if you keep this up." He warns quietly.

"Can't have that." Sanji agrees with a sniff as he pulls away and swipes a hand at his eyes. The cook would probably deny that he's crying a little bit.

"See you in the morning for breakfast, curlicue." Zoro calls as he heads into his building.

"Yeah." Sanji replies faintly.

Zoro yawns and heads inside to go to sleep. He's so so tired. He'll probably never hear the end of his secret friendship with Sanji from the others. Robin and Nami will pull at him for information forever and Franky will tease him. Right now though… he's okay with that. It was worth it.


	5. Chapter 5

For the last few weeks Zoro's had this strange feeling, this phantom itch under his skin. He feels antsy, like he's craving something. He's tried changing how much he works out, how much he drinks, whether he has coffee, but nothing seems to fix it. It's only when one day when he goes over to Sanji's that he realises what his problem is.

Sanji was running late, he always was. When he'd got there Sanji had just literally thrown a towel on himself and sprinted out of the shower, he was still damp all over and his hair was dropping trails of water down endless pale bare skin.

"Just gimme a sec to get dressed!" Sanji had panted, dashing to his wardrobe and flinging it open. Zoro had lingered in the door, some smart remark dying on his lips as Sanji twists and the towel sinks a little lower on his waist exposing lean hips and the curve of his ass. It's only then when Zoro's brain faltered and his smart remark died on his lips that he realised that it's his sex drive that'd been itching at him for the last few weeks.

He'd excused himself and left Sanji to get dressed, he figured it must have been getting bad if his best friend was starting to push his buttons. He's not got a very overwhelming sex drive, or rather, not one that usually requires other people. He's got a pretty good grip on the whole thing, no innuendo intended of course. Still, he had a couple of people he could call on for casual sex when his own hand won't do the job.

Even if his job would let him have a relationship, which it won't, he doesn't really believe in them. He's got people that he cares about deeply, like Sanji for example, and he's got people that he fucks. He keep the two groups incredibly separate, the only person who's _ever_ crossed the line from lover to friend was Ace and that's only because Ace stopped sleeping with him when he got together with Marco. Even with that the only reason Zoro still keeps in _any_ kind of contact with him is because he's Luffy's brother and truthfully he feels uncomfortable even doing that.

He doesn't like mixing the two groups because feelings are dangerous enough without throwing sex into the equation. He's seen more than enough train wrecks of relationships to not want anything to do with that.

Take Sanji for example, he'd do anything for that man, he feels like he can tell him damn near anything and that Sanji would accept him for it. But if he lost that just because he listened to his dick… well, he'd be devastated. But instead he's going to be smart, he's going to get laid elsewhere and keep his relationship with Sanji exactly as it is right now. It's genius. Anyway, it's not really anything to do with Sanji at all, it's just his sex drive playing up and latching onto anything it can find.

"Oi, freakshow, quit spacing out. We're gonna be late." Sanji interrupts him, knocking on Zoro's head.

"You're the one who wasn't ready." He argues back, following Sanji out of the door. His eyes flick down to Sanji's tight black jeans clad butt for a moment before he wrenches them back up, yeah… he needs to take care of this soon.

He follows Sanji down the stairs of his building and down into Sanji's car. The cook has to drive quickly or else they're going to miss the start of their movie and the others will be pissed off at them. Sanji drives crazily but gets them there in time, though Zoro swears that they should be dead from the number of close calls that they've had.

Sanji grabs Zoro's hand and sprints with him in tow towards the cinema. Zoro feels his stomach flip and stares at their joined hands. Crap, why is Sanji even doing this?

"My sense of direction isn't that bad, you don't need to yank me around like a child!" He squawks tugging his hand back.

"We don't have time for you to get lost and I've seen you get lost in your own building, so come ON!" Sanji shouts over his shoulder at him, tugging Zoro around a corner by his jacket. They sprint into the cinema, breathlessly order their tickets and haul ass to their screen. Miraculously they manage to drop into their seats by Zoro's other friends just as the rating title card for the film is flashing up.

"What kept the two of you so busy?" Robin purrs in his ear, leaning over from the seat next to him.

"Don't." He warns under his breath. His mind is already in the gutter enough tonight as is without her help.

Sanji stretches his long legs out into the aisle and gives a breathy little sigh that dives straight into Zoro's hyped up sex drive. His eyes flick to Sanji's long legs and for a split second his irritating sex drive whispers the idea of just what those legs would feel like wrapped tight around him.

Sanji looks over at him through impossibly long lashes, blue eyes all dark because of the dim theatre night, they so easily could be blown out from something else… The cook smiles at him, making Zoro's stomach clench tightly.

"I gotta go." He squeaks and slips past the confused cook and dashes out of their screen. It's too much, being that close to Sanji is just setting his nerves on fire.

"Zoro! Are you okay?" Sanji gasps behind him, his hand skittering down Zoro's back and his mind flying firmly into the gutter.

"I'm fine, you stay I just gotta… go." He chokes out the last word as he glances back at Sanji's wide eyes and open mouth, looking for all the world like an invitation to grab him and kiss him.

He dashes out of the cinema and pulls out his phone, he dials the number of his long term booty call.

"Daz, if I text you my address can you make it tonight? I really need-" He cuts himself off because Daz knows full well what he needs.

"Sure, always got time for you Zoro. Send me your new address." Daz purrs down the phone. Zoro hangs up and quickly texts the other man his address and starts to run home. He can't let his stupid sex drive ruin things with his best friend, he can't and he won't.

He really would have preferred to call Ace, he's more in the mood to top someone than be topped, but Ace is off limits ever since he got together with Marco. Still, Daz has never let him down and right now his sex drive has no basis for being picky, especially when Daz is guaranteed to blow his mind.

He arrives home breathless just in time to find Daz waiting at his door.

"Thought you weren't coming." Daz says deeply, his voice always sets Zoro a little on edge. It's so deep and rough that some part of his brain just whines at having it directed at him, it part of why this thing between them works so well.

Daz has easily a foot on Zoro, if not more and he's hardly short himself. In addition to that Daz is way broader than Zoro himself is and the guy can throw him around like a ragdoll if he pleases, which he often does. He has a way of just owning space that makes Zoro feel like a guest in his own damn hallway.

"I was across the other side of town." He explains breathlessly.

Daz tilts his head expectantly and Zoro scrambles to open the door, as soon as the lock is open Daz shoves him inside, making Zoro stumble.

His sex life is kind of complicated. He has things that he likes in his sexual partners and picks them depending on his varying moods, Ace was someone that he could struggle with but ultimately top, he's had short term flings who were really submissive but he didn't really like that. Whilst he prefers to be the one in control he wants to feel a little bit like he's earned it.

Now Daz… Daz was a bit of an exception. As previously mentioned Daz was huge in every sense of the word. Big body, hugely powerful and… well, the rest of him matched too. Daz was particularly into being dominant and whilst Zoro usually couldn't be described as submissive sometime it could be nice, besides Daz always blew his mind enough for Zoro to be more than happy enough to play along to his kink. And if he ever got like this, so strung out with desire as to be pretty much useless, Daz was the guy to call.

"You're really far gone aren't you?" Daz murmurs, hauling Zoro's shirt off of him without Zoro's help. He just whines, his thoughts stupidly skittering to his best friend again, so he puts up no resistance when Daz just bodily lifts him up and drops him on his bed.

"Been a while?" Daz questions, popping Zoro's buttons open with one of his giant hands. Zoro doesn't answer but instead sighs and shuffles further up the bed.

"Oi, answer me." Daz orders, pressing a hand into Zoro's chest and pinning him where he is.

"Yes, alright. It's been a while." Zoro answers, glaring up at the bigger man. He knows full well that if he tried to ignore Daz's order and move he wouldn't be able to, Daz isn't someone that he has to play being powerless to – the other man is so freakishly big and freakishly strong that Zoro just doesn't have a choice. He kinda likes it like that.

"Even so, this is a little much even for you. What's got you all wound up?" he questions yanking Zoro's jeans and underwear off in one big motion.

Zoro's brain flashes him a helpful image of Sanji's long lean legs, an image of his beaming smile, and the feel of Sanji curled up against him on the sofa. What is _happening_ to him?

"I don't know." He answers honestly.

"Doesn't matter." Daz shrugs and bites a mark into Zoro's shoulder, possessive as always. Zoro yelps but the sound is swallowed by Daz's lips on his own. He relaxes into it and lets the other man do what he wants, complying with every order because he trusts Daz to do what he wants.

He's so needy that Daz is able to exercise his favourite trick of keeping Zoro just on the precipice of coming for ages, speeding up and slowing down to keep him there and leaving him hovering on that line until he's a shaking wreck and he actually cracks and begs for it. Daz has him on his bed on his knees, held tight to Daz's chest by one of Daz's arms which stretches across Zoro's chest to his shoulder, pinning both of his arms to him. Daz has his other hand on Zoro's hip, bruisingly hard just in case Zoro gets any ideas about trying to change the pace of things on his own. He's strung tight like a violin string just vibrating with tension, a whine and a plea falls from Zoro's lips. Only then does Daz let him come, and of course it's brain meltingly amazing.

Afterwards he's sprawled out face down over Daz's huge torso, one leg sprawled on either side of Daz's. He's covered in bruises and hickeys with Daz stroking his back like he's some kind of cat. It helps bring him back down to earth though, and it feels nice so Zoro never minds.

"So catch me up on things then." Daz says and Zoro is still in his obedient headspace enough that he opens his mouth and answers.

"Kuina died which… I was prepared for I guess. It hurt though." He answers into the sheets.

"Mmm, sorry." Daz says gently, rubbing through Zoro's hair.

"And I met someone." Zoro continues sleepily, that makes Daz's hand pause through whatever wonderful thing he's doing to Zoro's hair.

"Tell." He says authoritatively.

"He's a cook, my best friend. It's new but… yeah." Zoro smiles dopily. He wouldn't really admit it but he's almost as fond of this part of Daz's visits as he is the actual sex. Daz rubs his neck kneading fingers into the muscles there and making Zoro melt.

"Describe what he's like." Daz commands and puts pressure on a knot in Zoro's neck, making it unravel and feel miles better. He's been tense lately, Zoro all but purrs at the feeling.

"He's amazing. He's so passionate about what he does and so open and… it's like he just took me inside his heart the moment I met him. I've never made a connection with anyone that quick but I feel like I've been his friend for my whole life, thinking about what things were like before him hurts. He's my best friend." Zoro explains with a smile against Daz's skin. Sanji is really great.

"Sounds like there's a little more to it than that." The other man notes.

"I don't- there's not. We're friends. But before I called you I couldn't stop thinking about him like- it's just wrong." He grumbles unhappily, pushing himself up on his elbows and moving off of the other man. Daz rolls onto his side and stretches, ceasing his petting.

"Well let me know when you figure that out. But you know the rules, if you start sleeping with him you both need to get tested if you want to keep sleeping with me." Daz says firmly. Daz happens to be in an open relationship, both him and his girlfriend have regular people that they sleep with and Zoro is Daz's, he thinks he's Daz's only one right now actually.

Daz and his girlfriend have strict rules about getting regular screenings though and Zoro is fine with that, though when he and Ace had been hooking up regularly they both had to get tested before Daz would let him back into bed. It was all very sensible and Zoro respects that. Still, it's hardly applicable to Sanji.

"I'm not going to sleep with him." Zoro groans, scrubbing at his face. He squeezes his eyes shut and can't help but wonder if Sanji ever would sleep with him, he shakes his head.

"He's my best friend, I'm not losing that." He adds vehemently, shoving the idea aside.

"I'm just… wound up is all. It's just my sex drive making me see things that aren't there." He declares, shooting Daz a firm look.

"You trying to convince yourself or me here, kitten?" Daz smirks, scratching Zoro's hair.

"I've told you not to call me that, I don't care how much you like it." Zoro snaps, batting Daz's hand away.

"Suits you so well though, all claws, fuzz and teeth but inside you want to be someone's pet." The bigger man chuckles, sitting up in bed.

"Fuck OFF." Zoro snarls and kicks Daz, not that it does anything but make the bigger man laugh.

"Like I said, let me know when you work it out. Oh, by the way, I've got a favour to ask you." Daz says standing up and stretching before starting to pick his clothes up off of the floor.

"Oh?" Zoro asks curiously, Daz isn't usually one to ask for anything.

"Paula wants to watch us, at mine I mean. Would you be up for that?" Daz asks, looking over his shoulder at Zoro.

"Your girlfriend wants to watch you fuck me in your bed?" Zoro asks with disbelief, he knows that they're open and all but that's kinda messed up isn't it?

"She asked. And yeah, she just wants to watch, not join in or anything I swear. Think about it anyway, let me know." Daz shrugs and stands up, sliding into his coat and letting himself out of Zoro's place.

"Bye kitten." He smirks through the door and shuts it after him.

"DON'T CALL ME KITTEN!" Zoro screams at the shut door and tries to ignore the sound of Daz's laughter echoing down the hallway.

Zoro growls and falls back on the bed with a huff of displaced breath. He scrubs at his face and scowls at the ceiling, whilst he can't deny that his time with Daz last night was good and certainly satisfying… it didn't scratch that itch that's lurking under his skin.

Tentatively he lets himself think of his best friend. This time it's more… worrying. Instead of the sharp edge of lust that he felt before he's got something altogether more sinister lurking in his mind. His brain flutters and lands on the image of being curled up in this very bed with Sanji, the morning light dappling his bare skin and making his golden hair shine. It's not platonic at all. He tries to wrench himself away from the thought but the wretched thought plays out on its own, he imagines crawling up to Sanji's warmth in bed and lazily kissing him, waking the cook and making him smile.

He gasps and smacks a fist into his head. This is wrong, so very wrong. Sanji is a friend and nothing more. He doesn't want him as a lover, he wants him as he is, he wouldn't sacrifice their relationship for anything in the world.

There's a hammering on his door and Zoro swears and pulls his discarded jeans on and stamps to the door, pulling it open. Daz is there in his hallway.

"What?" he frowns.

"I forgot my phone, get it for me love." Daz smirks teasingly, Zoro heads inside and flips him off as he does so. He searches on the floor and indeed finds Daz's phone almost right away. He returns to the door with it.

"Tomorrow night, I'll come to your place. I'm all yours." Zoro offers, holding up Daz's phone until he agrees. He needs to get this Sanji based itch out of his system and if he has to let Daz bone him to within an inch of his sanity in front of his girlfriend of all people then well, if that's what it'll take to get his brain back to normal then he'll do it.

"Oh… you won't regret this. It'll be the best night of your life." Daz purrs and grabs him, pulling him out into the hallway and ravaging him. Large hands slide into the back of Zoro's loose jeans and grope shamelessly, he shudders happily.

"Tomorrow." Daz agrees, pulling away.

"Heh, sure." Zoro grins and retreats back into his place without a backward glance, kicking the door shut behind him.

He shucks his jeans and drops into the cleaner half of his bed, trying his best to fall into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
